A LAW­MAKER from the mil­i­tary­backed Union Sol­i­dar­ity and Development Party sub­mit­ted an ur­gent pro­posal to the lower house yes­ter­day, seek­ing a dis­cus­sion on the con­flict that broke out last week in north­east­ern Shan State.

Fresh fight­ing broke out on Novem­ber 20 when the North­ern Al­liance, com­prised of the Kachin In­de­pen­dence Army (KIA), the Ta’ang Na­tional Lib­er­a­tion Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myan­mar Na­tional Demo­cratic Al­liance Army (MNDAA), staged at­tacks on sev­eral Tat­madaw and po­lice po­si­tions in Muse and Kutkai town­ships.

Clashes have since spread to ad­di­tional neigh­bour­ing town­ships.

The pro­posal from U Maung Thin sug­gested the of­fen­sive by the al­liance and con­tin­u­ing hos­til­i­ties pose a threat to the coun­try’s sovereignty and rule of law.

He also pointed to the eco­nomic im­pact, with the clashes hav­ing brought trade on the China border to a grind­ing halt.

“Th­ese at­tacks en­croach on the coun­try’s sovereignty, and also hurt the rule of law and peace and tranquility – and stop the border trad­ing. We found that some busi­nesses have been de­stroyed,” he said.

MP U Than Soe (USDP; Thazi) sec­onded the pro­posal. It was passed with no ob­jec­tions and will go for­ward for dis­cus­sion.

MPs who wished to dis­cuss the pro­posal had to regis­ter their in­ter­est yes­ter­day, said Pyithu Hlut­taw Speaker U Win Myint.

This is se­cond ur­gent pro­posal sub­mit­ted by USDP MPs in the NLD-dom­i­nated par­lia­ment. In the first reg­u­lar ses­sion, the USDP’s U Than Soe sub­mit­ted an ur­gent pro­posal for re­mov­ing US eco­nomic sanc­tions, but it was shot down by NLD rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

U Myo Zaw Aung (NLD; Kawlin) told The Myan­mar Times that NLD MPs had given their sup­port for a dis­cus­sion this time around.

“Once we ob­jected to their first pro­posal, some crit­i­cised that we are nar­row-minded. That’s why we learned our les­son and gave sup­port this time,” he said.